


Watch it from your ivory tower

by justlarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Break Up, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Makeup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-13
Updated: 2013-09-13
Packaged: 2017-12-26 11:35:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/965482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlarry/pseuds/justlarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis can't do it anymore</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watch it from your ivory tower

"You're late," Louis murmured as Harry stumbled through the doorway. "And you're drunk."  
"I may have had a few beers."  
"Harry," Louis sighed. He was tired of this. Tired of everything. Harry had been coming home late for two weeks and he was almost always drunk out of his mind.  
"I was out with Nick."  
"I know. You said you'd be home for dinner."  
"You're not my mum." Louis composed himself. He didn't want to get into a fight with Harry, especially if he was drunk.  
"I was just worried about you. You could have called or something."  
"You're so controlling." Louis knew it was the alcohol talking but Harry was getting to him.  
"Go to bed Harry."  
"Don't tell me what to do."  
"For god's sake Harry just go to fucking bed!" Harry looked surprised by Louis' outburst. Louis rarely ever got angry.  
"Fine." He was about halfway up the stairs when he turned around due to the lack of following footsteps behind him. "Coming?"  
"No."  
"Where you gonna sleep then?" Harry chuckled slightly, not understanding.  
"Couch I guess."  
"Come on Lou, come up to bed."  
"I don't want to, not tonight." Harry was becoming more aware of the situation at hand.  
"Louis," he whined.  
"No Harry, I don't want to sleep in the same bed as you tonight."  
"But-"  
"But what? That's not fair? You know what else isn't fair?! That I have to wait until two in the bloody morning for my boyfriend to come home without a fucking text message! That I went to the trouble of making dinner for you but you had better plans. That you can't fucking remember the day we met!" Harry was silent.  
"Fuck Lou, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot."  
"I already knew that. It's been five years Harry, and I got you something special, and you fucking forgot." Harry wrapped his arms around Louis.  
"I love you Louis, please, I'm so sorry. Come up to bed."  
"No Harry. You make mistakes you have to face the consequences. Go to bed." Harry sighed and trudged upstairs as Louis made a little bed on the sofa.  
Neither of the two had a good sleep that night. Harry couldn't be comfortable without having Louis' soft body fitting perfectly into his. Without being able to hear his breathing, and his little murmuring during a dream. Louis couldn't find a way to sleep on the sofa at all, and lay awake staring at the ceiling, thinking about Harry.

~~~

When Harry woke up, Louis was gone. There was no note or text message from him saying where he'd gone, and Harry brushed it off to begin with, thinking Louis was just showing him what it was like to wait. But when the clock face showed it was almost five in the afternoon, Harry was worried. Louis hadn't been home for nine hours. He dialled his number, listening to it ring until on the last one he heard Louis' voice on other side.  
"Louis?"  
"Hi."  
"Where are you?"  
"It doesn't matter."  
"Can you come home?"  
"I don't think so."  
"When will you be back?" Harry heard him sigh.  
"I don't know."  
"Can we talk about this?"  
"About what?"  
"Everything."  
"There's nothing to talk about."  
"Well why can't you come home then?"  
"Because it's not working Harry."  
"What's not working?"  
"Us, everything. It's all too much."  
"Louis-"  
"I'm sorry Harry. Maybe in a few years, but I can't go through this again."  
"I love you."  
"Bye Harry." Harry kept his ear to the phone until Louis disconnected.  
"I've really fucked this one up," he murmured to himself. There was a growing pool of tears on the kitchen table's surface; Harry hadn't realised he was crying.

~~~

Louis woke up, clutching for the familiar body beside him, but was met with emptiness. He opened his eyes and sighed when he began to remember yesterday's events.  
"Louis? You up?" Zayn's voice was quiet through the thick walls.  
"Yeah, I'm awake."  
"Can I come in?"  
"Sure." Zayn opened the door and gave him a sympathetic smile.  
"Harry called."  
"What did he say?"  
"Asked how you were. Wanted to talk to you."  
"Did he sound okay?"  
"Not great." Zayn sat on the edge of his guest bed. "What actually happened?"  
"It was our five year anniversary the day before yesterday. He completely forgot, but said he'd be home for dinner. He decided he had better plans and went out with Nick. Then we just got into a fight and I left the next morning before he woke up. I stayed in the park the entire day, just thinking, and then I came here."  
"You two have gotten over things like this before, I'm sure it'll be alright."  
"It's different this time Zayn."  
"Why?"  
"I was going to ask him to marry me." Zayn fell silent.  
"Oh my god. Why didn't you say?"  
"It was going to be a surprise, meant especially for our five year anniversary. But then all that got fucked up."  
"Hey Louis, don't cry." Louis hadn't even noticed he was and wiped away the tears that fell down his cheeks. "We've got to get to work."  
"Okay." Louis pulled on the clothes he had worn yesterday and followed Zayn into the car. The journey was a comfortable silence until they reached the car park. "I don't know what to say to him."  
"Just leave it, until he speaks to you."  
"Okay. What about the others? They don't know."  
"I'll explain it to them."  
"Thanks." Zayn smiled at Louis before they got out of the car and went into the recording studio.  
"Niall, Liam can I talk to you for a second?" The two boys looked up and nodded, following Zayn into the corridor. Harry was already recording so Louis sat alone, listening to Harry's voice through the speakers. The other three came in again, the smiles on their faces having definitely faded. Their smiles matched Zayn's: sympathetic and pitying.  
"Louis, booth 1 with Harry." Louis tensed at the sound of the intercom.  
"Good luck," Zayn whispered as he opened the door. Louis stepped in, not even taking a second glance at Harry and looked straight at the mixing desk.  
"Alright, you two are harmonising for the middle eight. Louis start, Harry come in on 'love'." They both nodded and the music began.  
'I let go of my love,  
I let go of my heart.  
I let go of everything,  
I'll go back to the start.'  
"Alright, you can go now." The two boys nodded, the tension obvious between them. They sat on opposite sides of the sofa area, neither one looking at the other.

~~~

Louis hadn't properly moved out of their apartment. He dropped round if he ever needed more clothes or something, but he knew that eventually he would have to.  
"Louis?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Harry called."  
"Why?"  
"He says your stuff is getting in the way."  
"Okay. I'll get it then."  
"Need some help?"  
"I'll be fine." Louis cried as he drove to Harry's. He knew it was his fault that all this was happening. he was the one that broke them up, but he liked having something to connect him to Harry. He waited in the car for a few minutes before knocking on the door.  
"Oh, hey Louis." Harry never called him Lou anymore.  
"I came to get my stuff."  
"Oh, yeah. I'm going out now, I'll be back later. Around seven."  
"I'll be gone by then, don't worry," Louis remarked. Harry sighed and shut the door, leaving Louis alone. Louis didn't tidily fold anything; he just packed it all into cardboard boxes with labels on them. One of them said Harry on it. That was the one he was leaving here. In it were shirts of his, CDs and other things. It didn't take too long for Louis to get all of his things and he was back at Zayn's soon enough. At around seven thirty the phone started to ring.  
"Louis? It's for you."  
"Who?"  
"Harry, says it's important."  
"Alright." He took the phone from Zayn and walked into the guest room.  
"Hey."  
"Don't 'hey' me."  
"What did I do?"  
"You know exactly what you did. The box."  
"It's all yours."  
"That doesn't matter. They were all things I had given to you. What next? Are you gonna get all your tattoos removed?"  
"I just didn't want them anymore."  
"Fine."  
"Have you gone through everything?"  
"Most of it."  
"Well I'm going to stay on the phone for a little longer then until you find everything."  
"Why? So you can laugh at my tears?"  
"No. it doesn't matter. Just keep going." It wasn't until five minutes later there was a sound over the phone.  
"Oh my god."  
"Guessing you found it," Louis said emotionlessly.  
"It's beautiful."  
"It would have been yours by now anyway, so you can keep it." Louis hung up before Harry could say another word and flopped down on his bed. Louis didn't do anything that weekend. He had no energy to even move from his bed until Zayn forced him out.  
"We're going out for dinner. Dress nice."  
"Why?"  
"It doesn't matter. Just do it." Louis sighed but relented and changed into something smarter.  
"Why are you bringing me here of all places? You know what this place is."  
"Come on." Louis pulled himself out of the car, staring up at the familiar lettering of the restaurant. Where he and Harry had their first date, where they first said they loved each other, where they did everything. It wasn't until he was inside the restaurant that he realised Zayn was no longer behind him.  
"You must be Louis," the waitress smiled. Louis nodded and was led into a back room that was empty of people apart from one. Harry, sitting at the table looking up at him.  
"Hi."  
"Hey."  
"Sit down." Louis nodded and pulled out the seat. It was just like their first date. "I'm sorry Louis, and I'm making it up to you tonight."  
"Okay." The night went a lot better than Louis had expected and the conversation did flow throughout the night.  
"Louis?"  
"Yeah."  
"I need to ask you something?"  
"Alright."  
"Okay. I know I messed up. And I messed up really badly. But, I do love you. I love you more than anything or anyone and, even if I forgot our meeting anniversary, I made sure I didn't forget our first date anniversary. Five years ago, in this exact place we had our first date. And five years later I realised I was in love with you even that long ago. And I need to ask you this." Louis' eyes widened as Harry got on his knee. "Will you marry me?" In his hand was the ring Louis left.  
"Yes." He slipped the somewhat larger ring onto Louis' thinner finger.  
"I love you."  
"I love you more."

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading :) kudos and comments are appreciated


End file.
